Following the harvesting of grain, straw in the form of stalks is a common byproduct and frequently must be disposed of.
In German patent document (Open application--Offenlegungsschrift) DE-OS No. 2,721,213, for example, there is described a process for the burning of straw in which bales of straw are fed one after the other into a combustion chamber and burn with an open flame therein.
This process is substantially discontinuous because the burning of one bale must await the practically complete burning of the previous bale, so that, although the bales are fed in succession, a subsequent bale cannot be advanced until the previous bale has burned down at least to a point that the major part of its mass has been destroyed and only a small glowing pile remains to ignite the next bale.
Since the practically complete combustion of a bale is time-consuming, this method, and the apparatus for carrying it out, do not operate continuously and involve time-consuming operations which must be monitored with care and efficiency.